Brokenshire, “Washington State Place Names”
Brokenshire, Doug. 1993. Washington State place names: From Alki to Yelm. Caldwell, ID: Caxton.
The author of this reader-friendly volume focuses more on the histories associated with the place names than on their etymologies. He does a fine job making Northwest history accessible. There are several entries that will interest the Chinook Jargon student:
- Alki Point
- La Push
- Okanogan (I hadn’t realized that Coxey George [from CJ kakshet ‘broken’] was a.k.a. George Lahome or Loup Loup George)
- Port Townsend
- Seattle
- Silverdale
I won’t give away why some of these are relevant. Find a copy and enjoy!
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Mr. Brokenshire
I appreciate very much your love for the Northwest and your books, but believe I discovered a serious error in the “Leavenworth” entry in your 2008 “Washington State Place Names, from Alki to Yelm.” I am wondering if it has already been pointed out to you.
Leavenworth, like Wenatchee and Stevens Pass, Ephrata and the whole northern tier of the state was Great Northern Railway country and, I am 99% certain, Charles Leavenworth worked for James J. Hill’s Great Northern, not the Northern Pacific.
The NP’s cross-state main line from the east dropped down from Spokane to Pasco then west through Yakima and north to (or near) Ellensburg and turned west through the Cascades via Stampede Pass, which is south of Interstate 90 and Snoqualmie Pass.
Gregg Herrington
Vancouver, Wash.
gregguw@yahoo.com
Thanks, Gregg, I hope Mr. Brokenshire has a Google Alert set up on for his name & gets to see your excellent comment! — Dave Robertson